From the Editor: Like Moths to a Flame

I went to an art auction last night with the theme of moths. Why moths? A friend set up MothNet as a citizen science project to engage the public in science through discovering the beauty and importance of moths (twitter.com/mothNetNZ). I learned that most of New Zealand’s moths occur nowhere else in the world. The auction was to raise money to assist school children from New Zealand to attend the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Canada. The students will be presenting research they have done on New Zealand moths as part of MothNet. What a fantastic cause.

I believe there is huge value in supporting the next generation of scientists, and it got me thinking how CRS is an organization that similarly does a great job in supporting emerging scientists. One example of this is the new “CV on a Poster” initiative at the 2017 CRS Annual Meeting in Boston, which is designed to give our student and postdoc attendees the opportunity to engage with recruiters, and it looks like a great opportunity. The annual meeting is also where the CRS Newsletter editors select articles for the CRS Newsletter. If you are invited to write up your poster as an article for the CRS Newsletter, please take up this opportunity to give your work greater exposure. If you are not able to make the meeting in Boston, you can catch some of the highlights in the next issue of the CRS Newsletter.

As you read in the final issue for 2016, Yvonne Perrie has stepped down from her role of editor and chair of the CRS Newsletter Committee after 12 years of fantastic service. Charles Frey has also stepped down, and his contribution to the Patent Watch section of the CRS Newsletter will be greatly missed. We say a huge thank you to Yvonne and Chuck for their considerable input over many years. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to the new committee members who have joined the CRS Newsletter team: Ken Carson (Southwest Research Institute, U.S.A.), Ryan Donnelly (School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University, Belfast, Ireland), and Medha Joshi (Chicago College of Pharmacy, Midwestern University, U.S.A.).

In case you were wondering, I was restrained and only bought two pieces of art at the moth auction!

Best wishes,

Arlene McDowell